The Energy Crisis is Only the Tip of the Iceberg

The conflict in Ukraine has provided grist for those arguing for a rapid energy transition, shifting away from fossil fuels. Efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy have sent energy prices soaring, as many countries across the world are looking for alternative energy sources, while simultaneously facing a possible fuel shortage this winter.

The global energy crisis has created a paradox. It has made addressing our unsustainable global energy system both more urgent and more difficult. But even though the energy crisis is an immediate global challenge, it is something that is heavily intertwined with a broader and bigger crisis: climate change.

Transitioning to a just, efficient, and sustainable energy system offers a solution to the energy crisis but might undermine efforts to keep global warming below 1.5C. In the last months we have seen how decarbonized parts of the energy system have demonstrated greater resilience. For instance, the deployment of renewables in the United Kingdom has cushioned price increases for electricity, which only rose 54% compared to 97% for gas. However, much of the efforts directed to increasing energy security have been focused on replacing Russian energy exports with fossil fuels from other sources. In some regions, such as in the European Union, this includes planned investment in liquified natural gas infrastructure, which are investments that risk either locking in fossil fuel consumption for the coming decades, or being abandoned at great cost as the climate crisis becomes more extreme.

We cannot afford to backslide on our climate ambitions when addressing energy insecurity and we must avoid locking in further fossil fuel dependency. The energy crisis is only the tip of the iceberg, with global warming accelerating more immediate challenges such as global food and energy insecurity. Human activities are on track to release enough carbon emissions to breach the 1.5C global warming threshold in a decade or so. Glaciers are melting, and sea levels are rising, displacing millions of people and threatening several cities to find themselves underwater. Drought and wildfires are increasing, destroying homes and infrastructure, costing billions of dollars. Water is becoming scarcer in more regions, and so are other natural resources, intensifying the global competition for them and fueling geopolitical and socioeconomic tensions. Soil is degrading, and landmass is reducing, amplifying the hydrogeological risks, desertification, and declining global food production. Climate change also directly affects energy production as well as the physical resilience of current and future energy infrastructure. Heatwaves and droughts are already putting existing energy generation under stress, making it even more important to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

”We urgently need to respond to the growing impact of climate change on energy systems if we are to maintain energy security while accelerating the transition to net-zero.  This requires long-term planning and bold policy action to spur investment, which in turn needs to be underpinned by comprehensive and reliable weather and climate data,” – Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency.

Against this backdrop of multiple interconnected crises around the world, the global green transition must include a rapid acceleration of climate finance and innovative technologies to prepare us for the future impacts we know are coming. But for these actions to have meaningful impact, thinking outside the box with cross-sector and cross-border partnerships is required. Radical collaborations between both State and non-State actors and across sectors are needed to help direct climate solutions and innovative technologies to tangible outcomes by 2030.

“Time is not on our side, and our climate is changing before our eyes” – Prof. Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, WMO.

Each actor has a unique role to play. Governments and international organizations can set targets and frameworks that can help advance their NDCs and climate goals. NGOs and non-profit organizations can identify the most urgent and pressing matters on local, regional, national, and global levels, while the private sector plays a leading role in developing technologies and making them more accessible and affordable.

For instance, Siemens has worked together with the Jordanian Ministry of Health, using solar energy to service patients from vulnerable communities with the “Connected Solar Clinic” in Al-Mafraq, Jordan.

Another positive example of how cross-sector collaboration between the public and private sector helps provide realistic and actionable solutions to climate change is the partnership between Parley for the Oceans, the Government of Andrha Pradesh (GoAP) and the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet (GASP). On 26^th August 2022, the partners formally signed an ambitious Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The event was led by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and culminated in AP – a state of 55 million people – committing to being plastic pollution free by 2027. Both the GoAP and Parley for the Oceans will bring in their respective expertise in policy, governance, technology, and business to co-create and implement the world’s first net-zero plastic upcycling facility, “Parley Super Hub” in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. To this end, Parley for the Oceans will help intercept ocean bound plastic trash and retrieve legacy plastic waste in the coastal waters off the 975 km AP coastline through hundreds of thousands of fishermen and other ocean warriors. The Parley Super Hub will upcycle this plastic waste into high-quality flakes, pellets and yarn that will be converted into numerous high quality value-added products.

To celebrate the launch of this partnership, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Parley, and GASP organized a beach-clean-up drive on August 26^th, 2022, with 22,157 volunteers participating at 40-identified points along the nearly 30-km Visakhapatnam coastline. Visakhapatnam is a port city and industrial center of Andhra Pradesh, located on the Bay of Bengal.

This decade is a make-or-break timing for climate action, and those who realize this urgency are forming global partnerships across sectors that can tackle interconnected, and both near-term and longer-term crises, which include climate change, energy and food insecurity.